The Rio Olympics will be joined by two swimmers from Barnet Copthall after the pair were chosen to take part in the biggest sporting competition on earth.

Gaurika Singh, 13, from Mill Hill, and 17-year-old Haris Bandey from East Finchley, will travel to Brazil ahead of the start of the 2016 games this weekend.

Singh will take part in the heats of the 100m backstroke for Nepal on August 7, the day after Bandey races in the 400m freestyle for Pakistan.

Every Olympics or Paralympics since 1980 has been represented with players from the club, which was first formed in Barnet in 1978. It will soon have the added bonus of a new leisure centre on the site of its current facilities in Champions Way in Hendon, with completion due by January 2019.

Rhys Gormley, the club's chief coach, said: "We want to wish Gaurika and Haris every success in Rio, and we're looking forward to getting the new brilliant facility built at Copthall so we can train the next generation of Olympians."